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Tuesday, February 24, 2015

I'm a bit late with Chinese New Year pics of the kiddos. I have felt like such a failure! I've seen dozens of cute little Chinese children all dressed in their China silks in beautiful photos posted all over social media.

Finally, on Friday I had some free (ha!) time. I moved the couch in our bedroom so it would face the window to get the perfect natural light. As a bonus I found our missing bedroom TV remote! It had been missing for over six weeks.

I snapped many decent pics of Isaac and decided to get Ellie dressed in her silk China dress to shoot a few shots of her. That was a little easier said than done. After finally coaxing her upstairs, changing her clothes, and brushing her hair she settled into posing for me. I was so engaged in capturing the perfect shot I didn't notice Doodle our pug had creeped upstairs and deposited five large piles of doggy doo on the new carpet! To make matters worse, Isaac was standing there IN it and also was squishing it between his fingers! I froze for moment, then grabbed the brand new comforter which was on the floor and millimeters from one of the "piles." With one hand I held the comforter and the other I held Isaac's hand to keep him from moving! I urged Ellie to quickly "go get Daddy" in the basement because I knew he couldn't hear me from upstairs. When Chris arrived we put Isaac in the tub, the clothes in the laundry and I got to work cleaning up the carpet. I was thinking how smart we had been choosing "dog poop brown" as our carpet color!

After everyone was bathed and fed lunch and the carpet cleaned I finally had time to upload and edit my photos.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

When Chris and I went to China to adopt Ellie, it was to say the least, an interesting experience. Here I was having the mother of all panic attacks 24/7, and poor Chris trying to hold it together in a foreign country, with a new child and a hot mess of a wife.

When we got to Guangzhou, the second leg of our trip, we met an amazing woman who was adopting an older girl. She had brought along her daughter Sophie who had been adopted from China as well and was deaf. Sophie was a pistol, frequently signing "it's not fair" to her mom, just like a typical preteen would. We got to know Maryanne and her daughters during those days in China and we learned that Maryanne and her husband were already in process for another child, a six year old boy who had lost his eyes to retinal blastoma. Maryanne had such a great sense of humor, and we all hit it off immediately. I remember standing in the lobby of the hotel waiting on our group to walk to dinner for our final night in China when she told us the story how of how they were already in process to come back. She talked about saving every penny and how God had blessed them at just the right moments when a fee was due. I was so in awe of her and at that point I couldn't EVER imagine myself standing on China soil again! Oh what I didn't know then! Chris told her he wanted her address so he could send her a donation when we returned home.

Then suddenly Chris told me he would be back soon and went back to our hotel room. It seemed like it took forever for Chris to return. I remember thinking something horrible had somehow happened to him imagining all kinds of horrific things. Remember, I was continually freaking out! When he finally came back he handed Maryanne some money and said he just didn't want to forget when we got home and life got hectic.

Over the next two years Maryann was a great source of support and her and I were able to chat a couple times on the phone. Chris and I rejoiced when Vincent came home.

"Three years ago, almost to the week, the two of you handed me $$$ towards our adoption of Vincent. Here is is, back to you, with more to come as I can. Thanks for opening your hearts again to another child. The visually impaired children are so close to my heart, and I am grateful to you for hearing their cry for a family. And, of course, I love the name Sophie! If she is anything like our Sophie, I have just two words "Good luck!" HA! Love you guys!"

I share this story to illustrate how incredible God has been in our journeys to adopt our children and how He has blessed our life.

I want to expand on our car decal campaign. We are not doing this to "make money" or "get rich". I am sure some are wondering why a family who's husband has a pension and a new job would be asking for money? We aren't. We are asking you to partner with us, to be blessed along with us in our journey.This is why we chose the car decal.

A Christian radio station in St. Louis has car decals and it is now very common to see them when we go to the grocery store, out to eat, or just stopped at a stoplight. It unites strangers. We know we are a part of something bigger. We are a part of His kingdom. My hope is to someday be able to tell Sophie how much she was loved, prayed for and thought about long before she came home. My hope is to someday be driving and point out to her "look, there is someone who loved you and didn't even know you."

This is why we have not set any type of price for our decals. They did cost us to purchase them, but we want everyone to be comfortable with what they desire to give and the decal is our gift back to you.

Here are the instructions again so you don't have to click back through the blog posts.

It's simple.

You decide how many you want.

You decide how much you'd like to give.

We will mail you your car decals.They measure 4 inches by 6 inches.

Apply them to your car and share our story.

You can use the PayPal button in the upper right-hand corner of the blog, or email me for other options.

*On mobile devices you must scroll down and click on "view web version" of the blog to see the PayPal button*

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

I am excited to share with you this opportunity to partner with us in bringing Sophie Grace home!
My friend Martha came up with the unique design, she is VERY talented. She also LOVES Little Debbie snack cakes, but I digress...

Brian with Aggressive Graphics has taken Martha's design and come up with this exclusive car decal for us.

The decal measures four inches by six inches. It is a white decal with black border and color image.

You will proudly be able to display how you helped bring a little girl home to her family!

It's simple.

You decide how many you want.

You decide how much you'd like to give.

We will mail you your car decals.

Apply them to your car and share our story.

You can use the PayPal button in the upper right-hand corner of the blog, or email me for other options.

*On mobile devices you must scroll down and click on "view web version" of the blog to see the PayPal button*